ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MONGOLIA 16-17 OCTOBER

Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Mongolia in the morning of Wednesday, 16 October.   

His first official act in Ulaanbaatar was to lay a wreath in the main square at the monument to the heroes of the 1921 revolution.  Following Mongol tradition, he walked around the monument clockwise and proceeded to Government House, where he met with Prime Minister Nambar Enkhbayar.

The Prime Minister described the trials of the country during the last decade since the democratic revolution of 1989, after which the country was cut off from Soviet subsidies and struggled to stand on its own.  Falling world prices for its commodity exports, like copper and cashmere, and sustained drought in recent years, made the transition more difficult.  Still, the Prime Minister said that Mongolia would press ahead with economic reform, and announced plans to privatize land ownership for the first time.  He also said his Government was committed to poverty alleviation among a population that, while poor, had an exceptionally high literacy rate.  He said he wanted all Mongolians to be part of the democratic process in a society based on the rule of law.

He described Mongolia’s foreign policy as being outward-looking, friendly towards its two giant neighbours, Russia and China, while reaching beyond them to Asia as a whole.  Mongolia would host the third International Conference of New and Restored Democracies in June of 2003, he said, and he hoped the Secretary-General would attend.

The Secretary-General saluted the Prime Minister’s commitment to economic reform, development and human rights and said he would try and attend the conference.  On that occasion, he said, he hoped to stay longer and see some of the countryside.

The Prime Minister and Secretary-General then met briefly with the press. Asked about Iraq, the Secretary-General said that the Security Council was reviewing the possibility of approving a new resolution that will strengthen the hand of the inspectors, “and send them back to Iraq with the demand that the Iraqi Government comply with Security Council Resolutions”.

“If Iraq were to continue to defy”, he said, “the chief inspector will report back to the Council and the Council would decide what to do”.

“Iraq must understand”, he went on, “that it has to perform.  There is a universal message to the Government and leaders of Iraq —- do comply with United Nations resolutions.  And I hope they heed this appeal that is coming from every corner of the world, including from their friends and neighbours in the region”.

Pressed further on Iraq, the Secretary-General said, “I think the question of whether there would be one resolution or two resolutions is something that is being hotly debated and discussed by Member States in New York.  What I firmly believe is, at the end of the day when those discussions are over, the Council will come up with an optimal decision that will allow the inspectors to go back with a strengthened hand and continue their work”.

Asked whether Saddam Hussein’s re-election will affect that debate, the Secretary-General observed that there was only one candidate on the list.  “I don’t think the voting in Iraq will have any impact on the discussions that are going on in the Security Council”, he affirmed.

The Secretary-General then went to the Ikh Hural, or Parliament, where he met briefly with Deputy Speaker Jamsran Byambadorj.  The Deputy Speaker then escorted the Secretary-General into the chamber and invited him to address the assembly.

The theme of the Secretary-General’s address was “Small States in an Era of Globalization”.

“It is easy for countries that are small in size”, he said, “or, like Mongolia, small in population only, to feel daunted by the global forces at work in our lives today”.  But that would be wrong, he asserted.  The contributions of small states to international cooperation are crucially important.

He called for a fundamental compact between small states and large, “based on an acknowledgement of our mutual interest, awareness of our common fate, and adherence to the norms and standards of international law, without which we would be left with the raw politics of power”.

“Good neighbourliness is one of the cornerstones of the country’s foreign policy”, he said, “and good governance for human security lies at the core of your national development”.

“That attitude, that active engagement, your young and dynamic population, your opening to the world -— all these taken together”, he concluded, “offer you a real chance of finding the path of long-term security and prosperity”.  See press release SG/SM/8439.

In a central courtyard of Government House, there is a ceremonial “gher”, or dome-shaped tent, where high-ranking guests are received.  Here, the Secretary-General met with Mongolia’s President, Natsagiyn Bagabandi.

The President stressed Mongolia’s commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals, and said his Government was preparing its first progress report.  He pledged support for the Secretary-General’s efforts at UN reform.  He then offered a military base outside Ulaanbaatar for use as a regional peacekeeping training facility.

The Secretary-General thanked the President for the offer and said he would convey it to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.  He saluted the President for his commitment to multilateralism and the United Nations.  One of the main objectives was now to tackle poverty while protecting the planet, he said, recalling the objectives of the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development.

The President then served the Secretary-General a bowl of “airag”, or mare’s milk, which is slightly fermented.  He asked if a similar thing was drunk in Africa.  The Secretary-General replied that it was in East Africa, but not in the West, where he was from.  As they sipped the “airag”, the Secretary-General recalled that he had once told his young son that he wanted to be a farmer and raise camels.  “Their milk is so rich”, he told the eight-year-old boy.  But his son wasn’t impressed, and said he couldn’t tell the boys at school such a thing. The President observed that being a farmer would be easier than dealing with Iraq. “I should have followed my instincts”, the Secretary-General replied.  Then, circling the “gher” clockwise, he bid the President goodbye.

That evening, the Prime Minister hosted a dinner for the Secretary-General and his wife Nane.  Mr. and Mrs. Annan were given gifts of traditional Mongolian robes, which they wore until the end of the evening.

Earlier that day, Mrs. Annan met a nomadic herder family in a rural area 45 km south of the capital city.  The family welcomed her inside their ger (traditional dwelling), along with the district governor, where she learned about the challenging lifestyle of a nomadic herder, especially after four consecutive years of drought.  Nomadic herding is the source of livelihood for 40 percent of the Mongolian people.  Mrs. Annan also met rural and urban-based women leaders about the situation of women in the country, and she visited the National AIDS Foundation, which supports local organizations in their efforts to fight AIDS among vulnerable groups, notably sex workers, street children, mobile traders, the military and homosexuals.

On Thursday morning, the Secretary-General and Mrs. Annan had breakfast with President Natsagiyn Bagabandi and the First Lady of Mongolia.  The Foreign Minister, Luvsangiin Erdenechulum and his wife were also present.

After breakfast, the Secretary-General was joined by the Prime Minister, Nambar Enkhbayar, at the opening ceremony of UN House, a handsome, two-story structure given by the Government to house all UN agencies, funds and programmes working in Mongolia.  The Secretary-General greeted the hundred or so UN staff as members of his family.  He urged them to use the new premises to explore joint programming, pooling resources and common databases to achieve greater efficiency and impact.

He then met with representatives of about ten UN agencies, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, which have programmes in Mongolia -– making that the very first meeting in UN House.  Afterwards, he mingled with UN staff and talked briefly with family members of UN staff killed in a helicopter accident in Mongolia in January 2001.

After that, he travelled outside the capital to a nomadic encampment, where he visited a herdsman and his family in a traditional circular tent, or ger.  The herdsman’s six-year-old daughter sat on Nane’s lap as they sipped fermented mare’s milk and ate traditional bread, cheese and meat.  Conversation turned on family life, customs and traditions.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General and his party made the more than three-hour flight to Astana, Kazakhstan’s new capital.